SENSATIONAL OCCURRENCE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 970, 10 November 1910, Page 5

SENSATIONAL OCCURRENCE.

COACH DRIVER'S'NARROW ESCAPE. ■...-';;- IBy Teleeraph;—Press Associatio'n.l Chrisichurch, November 9. An exciting incident, which nearly ended in a tragedy,: occurred at Fendalton railway crossing shortly before G o'clock last night. The Fendalton coach, driven' by its owner (Mr.; Charles Brown), with a fair number of ipassengers aboard, was jogging' along peacefully to connect with the.car for town. At the crossing there is a slight rise, and on either side of the ; road are several poplar trees shutting the railway line from: sight. Suspecting nothing the driver of the coach had just gained the rails when u rapidly-approach-ing train, stated-to have been only 25 yards away, suddenly blew its whist'.e. In the. fraction of a second the startled horses Jiad bolted, and Mr. Brown, in attempting to pull them up, was jolted out of his seat, two of the wheels of the coach passing,over.his legs. To the spectators horror ho fell on to the railway line only a few.feet away from the advancing train, and a tragedy seemed imminent. By a miracle almost, however he managed to escape being crushed to death by rolling clear just as the train ! thundered past him. In the meantime the ■ coach had cleared the rails safely Luckily a.jockey boy was sitting next to the driver. He had seized hold of the rems, when the horses bolted, but when the driver fell to. the ground was .forced to : leave go, and / tho ■ reins fell to the ground amongst the horses', feet. NothuW.dismayed,, the jockey ran along the l? ait > and j from his, risky perch, with "β-krnaed animals in full career, succeeded in rescuing the' reins and pullin" lip.the horses within four or five.chains" much to the relief of the terrified passengers. Mr. Brown luckily escaped with no SThfs s iegs han ; severo mts and